Edited by J. Reid Meloy and Jens Hoffmann 50% off Audio Book until July 11th, 2023. Please use the link below to access the discount. ________________________________ For paper copy or ebook, please use the link below:
Read MoreLinguistics and Threat Assessment:
Julia Kupper and Stephen White Spring, 2023 In this feature, our colleague and guest contributor, Julia Kupper, introduces tactical and forensic linguistic methodologies – a promising aid in investigating language evidence for the risk of targeted violence across various populations of concern.
Read MoreDisability Evaluations and Violence Risk: Early Recognition of Mental Health Issues Can Reduce More Concerning Behaviors Later
Philip Saragoza, M.D. Winter, 2023 An increasingly common issue I see in my consulting is organizations struggling with what to do about an employee who is exhibiting disconcerting or disruptive behavior, but that doesn’t include outright aggression, hostility or threats. These behaviors are often reflective of different types of mental health and/or substance use issues, but not yet identified as …
Read MoreThreat Assessment on College Campuses
The tragic shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007, and Northern Illinois University in 2008, marked a significant turning point in campus violence risk awareness. Campus shootings had occurred before, even prior to the 1966 University of Texas tower shootings. Prevention efforts began to appear in the late 1980s and continued to be established.
Read MoreA Female Mass Murder
A case study of a 44-year-old woman who committed a mass murder is presented. Following a chronic course of psychotic deterioration, and a likely diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia that remained untreated, she returned to her workplace after 3 years from her termination and killed seven people and herself. Her history is reconstructed through investigation of primary and secondary source materials.
Read MoreEnvy and Extreme Violence
Envy is an emotion capable of producing distorted perceptions and cognitions. Intense envy is associated with adverse states such as shame, depression, inferiority, isolation, anxiety, paranoia, and even violent criminal behavior. The false logic of envy asserts that one has an unfavorable disadvantage, while obscuring the relative nature of advantage, so that the other appears enhanced while one feels diminished.
Read MoreWorkplace Assessment of Targeted Violence Risk: The Development and Reliability of the WAVR-21
This study describes the development of the WAVR-21, a structured professional judgment guide for the assessment of workplace targeted violence, and presents initial interrater reliability results. The 21-item instrument codes both static and dynamic risk factors and change, if any, over time. Five critical items or red flag indicators assess violent motives, ideation, intent, weapons skill, and pre-attack planning.
Read MoreThreat Assessment Team Negligence: Cleveland vs. Taft Union
Reid Meloy, Ph.D. & Molly Amman, J.D. Summer, 2022 For those of you trying to convince senior management to commit sufficient resources for a credible and sustained best practices protocol – show them this feature by Reid Meloy and our colleague Molly Amman. Another sign that with the increase in risk of violence in organizational settings comes increased exposure to …
Read MoreFringe Constituencies: Threats and Violence Motivated by Hostile Political Partisanship
Philip Saragoza, M.D.Spring, 2022 In this feature, our senior associate Phil Saragoza discusses an issue he has followed closely over the past few years – our increasingly dangerous politics and the implications for us threat assessors. Here he previews what he will present at ATAP in August as one of the keynote speakers on the opening day of the national …
Read MoreMissteps and Omissions in Threat Assessment Practice
Stephen White, Ph.D.Winter, 2022 On March 8th and 9th Reid Meloy and I will conduct our annual two-day WAVR-21 training, open to threat assessment practitioners across all disciplines. Please see the adjoining reminder in this newsletter for more details. We are excited to see the robust response in registrations, both in person and virtually. Among the issues we address in …
Read More